A global audio revolution is in the happening. For the past two years, pro audio and broadcasting has been moving away from peak level normalization and towards new, loudness-based solutions. In April 2011, another important step was taken when ITU-R upgraded its BS.1770 standard to BS.1770-2.

The first version of BS.1770 relied on ambiguous speech detection, which can have unexpected consequences trying to control the level of commercials or programs of certain genres. The improved 1770-2 recommendation incorporates a clever relative gate, making the measurement well-defined and practical to use, also across genres.

It is now even relevant for controlling the level of promos and commercials. Further, the new version is completely open standard, because TC Electronic donated core technology to EBU, where it was refined by PLOUD; and now brought back into the revised ITU standard.

Besides from BS.1770-2 measurement compatibility, these machines also have dedicated EBU R128, TR-B32 and ATSC A/85 metering presets. Additionally, smooth and BS.1770-2 compliant loudness correction is now available in DB4, DB8, DB4 MKII and DB8 MKII, while DB2 will get the capability this summer.